Scouring and abrading appliance



Julie 30, 1942. C ,HEPNER 2,287,801

SCOURING AND ABRADING' APPLIANCE Filed Jan. 12, 1940 Patented June30,1942 NI TED STATE S PAT E N T f OFF :ITC E .3 Claims.

This invention relates to abrasives and is designed for use in cleaningdishes, scouring utensils and the like, smoothing wood and paint and forkindred uses.

The term abrasive as used herein is intended to embrace polishingfscouring and the like.

It is an object of my invention to provide an applianceof the characterreferred to which may be heldconveniently between the iiingers ofthehand while being used.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a device of thischaracter capable of substantially more wear than previous devices.

It is also an object to provide an appliance of this character whichmakes most efficient use of the abrasive material.

Another object is to provide an article of this character which may beproduced in large quantities at extremely 10st cost.

It is also an object to provide improved methods of making devices ofthe character referred to.

Further objects and advantages of ltheinvention will appear as thedescription proceeds.

The invention will be better understood upon reference to the followingdescription and the accompanying drawing in which;

Fig. 1 is an elevation of an abrasive device made in accordance with oneform of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the. same.

Fig. 3 is a top plan View of the same.

Fig. 4 is anelevation taken as indicated by the line 4 4 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentaryl sectional-` View taken as indicatedby the line 5-5 in' Fig. 3 and turned clockwise 90.

Figs. 6 and 7 are views similar to Fig. 5 but of further modified formsof the invention.

Fig. 8 is a bottom plan View of Fig. '7.

Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. 5 but of sti1lanother form of theinvention.

Fig. 10 is a bottom plan View of the material formed for cooperationwith any suitable holder.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, a preferred form of myinvention is shown in Figs. 1 to 5, and comprises a backing piece 20 offlexible material such as cloth,` having on one face thereof a film ofglue 2| or other adhesive to which is secured steel or other metal wool22. 'Ihis wool is formed of threads or filaments 24 which may beparallel or generally so. The filaments may vary in length and may betangled and cross one another but for the most part run in the samegeneral direction so as to impart what may be termed a grain to thewool, and the wool is corrugated transversely to the grain or along aline crossing substantially all or `a majority of the filaments. asshown at 25. In this condition the metal fabric is applied to thebacking material in such a manner-that the roots 26 of the corrugatedmetal fabric are immersedin the adhesive as is shown exaggeratedly inFig. 5.

The parts are so brought together that every strand or lamentisimmersedin the adhesive substantially at every corrugation in thestrand. WhenV the adhesive hardens'and dries, or assumes a rigidV state,the strands l'are so' firmly imbedded that they cannotY escape or beloosened, so that the article is effective until the crests are wornaway and substantially nothing remains of the metal fabric except thatwhich is imbedded in theadhesive. The individual crests 28 of thecorrugations provide abrasive surfaceswhich are more effective than alike fabric with its rubbing surface substantially flat. "As the crestsbecome worn away, the resulting free ends of the filament sections thusparted continue to perform Yan abrading function, so that Vthe articlecontinues to have abrasive qualitiesI until worn down to the adhesivematerial.

The article comprising backing, adhesive and abrasive may be furnishedin sheet form in any size desired. For household usethe sizesubstantially as shown in Figs. l to 4 maybe found convenient'affordingany "suitable .'handle of which that shownis merely illustrative. /Thislhandle 29 may comprise a preferably relatively stiff han dle member 30which may be covered by a looped portion 3i of the fabric 20, which maybe` closed about the member 30 as by a line of stitching 32.

This handle is adaptedto be graspedbetween plane, but preferably it isresiliently flexible when dried to enable the article to adapt itself toirregular surfaces so as to enable substantially the entire area of theabrasive to be used.

In accordance with the form of the invention appearing in Fig. 6, thebacking 31 may consist of a piece of phenolic condensation product orother resinous material or so-called plastic in which the roots 38 ofthe corrugations are securely imbedded or molded or secured in themanner referred to in connection with the form shown in Figs. 1 to 5.

In the form of the invention appearing in Figs. '7 and 8 the metalfabric may be provided in the form of substantially parallel cords 39each of which comprises a plurality of filaments 40. A backing member4|, of cloth or other material, is formed with holes 42, and each cord,at inter vals therealong, is bunched as shown at 43 and poked orotherwise projected entirely through the holes 42 so as to protrudetherebeyond as shown at 44. A surfacing of adhesive 45 is applied to theouter face of the backing 4| so as to cover and immerse all of thestrands of each bunch. When the adhesive has hardened the cords aresecurely anchored.

Fig. 9 shows an abrasive pad construction which may be like any of thosepreviously described but in which the portions 52 of abrasive material53 extending between adjacent anchored portions thereof are severed asat 54 to provide free ends which have considerable abrasive value.

Fig. 10 illustrates an abrasive device 61 adapted to be used incooperation with any suitable holder. This device embodies theprinciples already explained and the backing material may have free ends63 adapted to be clamped to any desired holder. The filaments 13 runlongitudinally between the ends and the corrugations 14 transversely,but they could be arranged reversely or in any other directions andangles to each other.

In the case of a backing formed of cloth or the like and bearingadhesive for anchoring the metal wool, the adhesive imparts a certainstiiT- ness to the backing which renders the same substantiallyshape-retaining although yieldable to the pressure exerted in its use tothereby conform to irregular surfaces. The adhesive used in connectionwith the various modications may be glue, glyptol" (currently marketedby General Electric Company), rubber cement, pyroxylin or the like. Thebacking material may be of the type used in emery cloth but could bepaper, wood, metal or any other suitable material, flexible or rigid, asdesired. The adhesive material is preferably waterproof for householduse or any other use requiring immersion in a liquid, but need not bewaterproof when used with dry materials such as in the smoothing ofwoodwork, removal of paint and the like.

Preferably substantially all or the majority of the laments extendacross or are transverse to the corrugations.

In accordance with another form of the invention, the sheet-like mass offilaments extending in the same general direction and corrugated asnoted above may have the roots on one face thereof sewed to a poroussheet-like member, and adhesive may be forced to penetrate the membertoward the corrugations until the vadhesive impregnates the sewedcorrugations, and then the adhesive allowed to dry.

Various modifications may suggest themselves to those skilled in the artwithout departing from the spirit of my invention, and, hence, I do notWish to be restricted to the specic form shown or uses mentioned, exceptto the extent indicated in the appended claims, which are to beinterpreted as broadly as the state of the art will permit.

I claim:

1. An abrasive device such as a scouring pad, comprising a resinousplastic backing and a substantially planar sheet-like mass of metal woolcomposed of abrasive metal filaments extending in the same generaldirection, said mass being corrugated along substantially parallel linestransverse to said filaments, forming regularly spaced troughs andcrests along said laments, said troughs being embedded in said resinousbacking and held therein by said backing, leaving the intervening sidesand crests projecting free of said backing and substantially free of oneanother, the spaces between adjacent sides and crests providing pocketsfor the reception of shavings or chips cut from the work by saidfilaments, whereby the scouring efficiency of said sides and crests issubstantially unimpaired with continued use of said device.

2. An abrasive device such as a scouring pad, comprising a backing, anadhesive on a face of said backing, and a substantially planar sheetlikemass of metal wool composed of abrasive metal filaments extending in thesame general direction, said mass being corrugated along substantiallyparallel lines transverse to said laments, and forming regularly spacedtroughs and crests along said laments, with said troughs and the backingbonded together by said adhesive, leaving the intervening sides andcrests of the abrasive metal filaments projecting free of said adhesiveand backing and substantially free of one another, the spaces betweenadjacent crests providing pockets for the reception of shavings or chipscut from the work by said filaments, whereby the efficiency of thecrests is substan tially unimpaired with continued use of said device.

3. An abrasive device such as a scouring pad, comprising a backing, anadhesive on a face of said backing, and a substantially planar sheetlikemass of metal wool composed of abrasive metal laments extending in thesame general direction, said mass being corrugated along substantiallyparallel lines transverse to said filaments, forming regularly spacedtroughs and crests along said filaments, said troughs being embedded insaid resinous backing and held therein by said backing, leaving theintervening sides and crests projecting free of said backing andsubstantially free of one another, said resinous backing being dry andtightly anchoring and bonding to said backing at each trough asubstantial length of said laments so that each side so anchored issupported by said backing as a cantilever, said sides being suicientlysteep and short to form with said crests sti" projections Which tend tosubstantially maintain their shape under normal pressure in service byvirtue of the metallic nature of metal wool abrading laments, the spacesbetween adjacent sides and crests providing pockets for the reception ofshavings or chips cut from the work by said laments, whereby thescouring efficiency of said sides and crests is substantially unimpairedwith continued use of said device.

CHARLES HEPNER.

